Material published on Sunday by the Rishon Lezion court showed that the leak of a highly confidential document from the Directorate of Military Intelligence to the German newspaper Bild in September was likely aimed at alleviating public pressure and criticism against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the execution of six hostages by Hamas at the end of August.
According to information published by the court, Eli Feldstein, Netanyahu’s collaborator and the main suspect in this case, sent the document to Bild in order to change the public discourse on the fate of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, to make the Hamas leader Sinwar takes responsibility for the deadlock in negotiations over the release of the hostages, and suggests that the demonstrations demanding the release of the hostages are playing into the hands of Hamas.
Feldstein obtained the classified document in April of this year, after a reservist noncommissioned officer illegally released it to him on his own.
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He did not reveal it himself to Bild that after the killing of the six hostages in late August, an event that further traumatized the country and sparked sharp recriminations against Netanyahu for what critics called a prime effort minister to torpedo a hostage release agreement for political purposes.
Investigators believe the leak of the document was likely to seriously harm Israel’s security, the court found, while the IDF concluded that the leak harmed the aim of the war, namely the release of the hostages, as well as ‘to military operations and the Shin Bet internal security agency in Gaza.
Earlier on Sunday, the Attorney General’s Office informed the court that it intended to prosecute Feldstein and another central suspect in the case, but requested that they both be held in custody until five additional days to complete the drafting of the indictment and his testimony.
This combination of six undated photos of the hostages, top left, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi; bottom left, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lubnov, and Carmel Gat. (Credit: Forum of Families of Hostages and Missing via AP)
Feldstein and the other suspect, whose name has not been released, are suspected of transferring classified information to harm the state, collecting classified material to harm the state and participated in a conspiracy to commit a crime, among other things.
According to information provided by the court, the IDF opened an investigation into a possible leak after the publication of the article Bilddue to the highly sensitive nature of the document in question.
After the first checks carried out by the army’s information security department, the chief of staff, Herzl Halevi, himself asked the Shin Bet to open its own secret investigation in parallel in order to help identify the authors of the leak.
The identification of the main culprit, the reservist NCO, led investigators to three other suspects involved in the escape, including two reserve officers and a career NCO, and ultimately to Feldstein.
During the investigation, “a series of serious leaks was revealed” which began with the reservist NCO, “who decided on his own to withhold a top secret and sensitive document from the IDF authority in order to to pass it on to the political ranks,” the court said.
In April, the reserve NCO forwarded the document to Feldstein via a social media account, and he kept it until September.
The killing of the six hostages by Hamas sparked a wave of mourning in the country, and protests erupted against Netanyahu, accusing him of blocking a hostage deal, with relatives of the slain hostages joining in the criticism. .
Then, on September 6, the article by Bild based on the leaked document was published, reporting that Hamas was indifferent to the war ending quickly, and that it prioritized maintaining its armed capabilities and “exhausting” the military and political capabilities of Israel in the talks.
Protesters demanding the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza, in front of the Defense Ministry headquarters, in Tel Aviv, September 10, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The article also states that Hamas has developed a strategy of psychological warfare through hostages and that it seeks to “continue to exert psychological pressure on the families of [otages]both now and in the first phase [du cessez-le-feu proposé]in order to increase public pressure on the enemy government.”
The Court noted that the article of Bild was published just after the execution of the hostages and the ensuing protests against the government “and as part of a desire to change the public discourse and place the blame on the [dirigeant du Hamas] Yahya Sinwar ».
Feldstein first sought to publish in the Israeli press the document he had received in April, after the murder of the hostages, and communicated it to several Israeli journalists.
But when the military censor blocked publication due to the sensitivity of the material and its source, Feldstein sought to have it published in the foreign press, which the censor could not block, doing so with the help of a “third party”.
Eli Feldstein, spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. (Credit: Screenshot Kann; used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Act)
Once the article is published in Bildhe contacted several Israeli journalists to let them know so that they could write additional articles.
Some of these journalists having doubted the authenticity of the document, Feldstein asked the reservist NCO to provide him with a paper copy.
The officer then met with Feldstein and gave him a hard copy of the original document, as well as two other “highly classified” documents.
The court noted that the investigation, carried out jointly by the IDF, the Shin Bet and the Israeli police, had made it possible to thwart the “axis of flight” and prevent state security from being further put at risk. wrong.
In its statement announcing its intention to indict Feldstein and the second suspect, the Attorney General’s Office said it would at the same time ask the Court to keep the two suspects in custody until the end of the legal proceedings initiated. against them.
None of Feldstein’s lawyers have yet responded to a request for comment on the information released by the court.
